Johannesburg – Aspen Pharmacare, (“Aspen”), the South African subsidiary of the Aspen Group, a global speciality and branded multinational pharmaceutical company, has partnered with PinkDrive NPC, a recognised leader in cancer screening and awareness, to contribute towards the funding of a new mobile cancer screening clinic.
The fourth mobile clinic in the PinkDrive fleet will bring critical gender-related cancer screening to rural and peri-urban disadvantaged communities that don’t have immediate access to medical facilities.
Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen Group Senior Executive Strategic Trade, said, “Our country and continent is experiencing a curve in non-communicable diseases, (“NCD”) and cancers are one of the most prominent contributors to this surge. If left un-arrested, NCD’s will eventually overwhelm our healthcare system with broader dire economic, social and societal consequences. Many concerns can be managed and/or treated through early detection and intervention. Early screening in particular remains highly effective. As an organisation highly committed to and invested in positively contributing to solving among the most intractable of public health challenges, Aspen is privileged to partner Pink Drive in delivering a fully equipped mobile clinic that will assist resource-constrained and underfunded communities in confronting the scourge of cancer. These patients usually only receive access to treatment when they are diagnosed at a highly advanced stage of disease, mostly with limited prospect of survival, with the oblivious devastating consequences on families.”
The PinkDrive fleet of cancer screening mobile clinics provides mammograms and clinical breast examinations, pap smears, PSA testing for prostate cancer and education on breast, cervical, prostate and testicular cancer.
Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women worldwide and is estimated to affect one in eight women. If caught early and treated appropriately, the prognosis is excellent. In South Africa, HPV infections and cervical cancer also pose significant public health challenges. Despite existing interventions, the delay in testing often results in missed treatment opportunities, exacerbating the burden of gender-related cancer in the country.
“PinkDrive aims to address this crisis with our unique mobile cancer screening units which contain state-of-the-art screening equipment managed by specialised medical personnel who are empathetic to the difficulties experienced in the community and how to address issues in local languages at various education levels allows us to have a measurable impact on our beneficiaries. With support from our funders, we can extend our fleet of trucks to reach more people in more areas,” explains Noelene Kotschan, CEO and Founder of PinkDrive NPC.
